Hard Labor
by arukas234
Summary: Pregnancy has its ups and downs... but mostly downs.
1. Round 1

#1.

"NATSUME! IT'S SO HOT! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" a five months pregnant Mikan yelled from across the room.

"Yes, hon. I'm coming." Natsume said through his gritted teeth as he prepared the dish Mikan had ordered him to make. "Shit! A while ago she orders me to make food and now she's hot! Damn it! Why are pregnant woman like this?" Natsume muttered angrily under his breath.

Mikan was ordering him the whole morning non-stop. And when he did something wrong, her nagging was uncontrollable and unbearable. Just a little bit more and he would have killed himself.

Natsume sometimes wondered if their relationship had changed when they got married. Since, when they first met at ten and when they first started going out at sixteen, Natsume was naturally in control. When he doesn't feel like doing it, he doesn't do it. But now, when he doesn't feel like doing it, he doesn't have a choice.

* * *

><p>"Mikan" Natsume called out to his wife as he entered the living room. His wife was sitting on the sofa; her feet resting on a small chair as she was watching T.V. and eating Ben and Jerry's oatmeal cookie chunk ice cream with anchovies on top. During her pregnancy, her appetite turned into a weird, almost non human type of way, which Natsume had to suffer to.<p>

"What?" Mikan asked obviously annoyed at Natsume for disturbing her during her relaxation time.

This is also one of the things that changed during her pregnancy stage. When she was not yet pregnant, she was always the one who kept bugging and pestering Natsume at all sorts of stuffs and Natsume, due to his inborn character, often gets annoyed and sometimes pissed off but now, Mikan is the one getting irritated whenever Natsume interrupts her about something.

"Can I go this evening to Ruka's place?" Damn! Now he's even asking for her permission!

"WHAT?" Mikan yelled and she stood up and her anchovy-topped ice cream fell from her lap and made a big mess on the floor.

"Mikan? What's wrong?" Natsume asked, worried of the possible things that Mikan could likely do to him.

"You're going to leave your freaking pregnant wife here while you go out there and have the time of your life, getting drunk, dancing with strippers and gamble our whole income! You selfish bastard! Who knows? I might be in labor today and you're not even fucking there!" Mikan shouted.

"Wait… what strippers? What type of guy do you think I am? And Mikan, your still five months pregnant, it's nearly impossible to be in labor that early unless you wanted to make a record."

"Ohhh… so this is where it's going! Your sarcasm is truly magnificent Natsume! Really! Maybe I should give you an award. What do you want; 'Best Bastard Father/Husband of the year' or maybe, 'Most Scumbag Father/Husband of the Millenium'… or better yet, you should have both!" Mikan was now pacing around the living room, looking for things she could possibly throw to the man in front of her.

Nastume's jaw fell when he heard what his wife had just said. "What the hell is your freaking problem?"

Mikan stayed quiet for a bit and glared at Natsume for exactly five seconds. "Fine! Do whatever you want!" This was her last words before she proceeded to her, or rather, their room.

There was a part in Natsume's mind that wanted to hug and apologize to his furiously angry wife but he was also pissed off at Mikan's recent behavior. Sure, she's pregnant, but there are also times that he could not make that a good enough reason for her to treat him like this.

After a few minutes of pondering of deciding whether to comfort Mikan or not, he had chose to go to his car and drove off to Ruka's place.

* * *

><p>1:35 a.m.<p>

This was the exact time Natsume had gone home. He was still standing in the doorway of his house, reeking of alcohol and he had concluded; Mikan was literally going to kill him.

"Mikan?" he silently called out as he entered his house quietly. After a few shots of vodka and tequila, he had decided to talk to his wife properly about his so called rights.

He scanned the room with the lights still turned off. It was quiet so that meant Mikan was already asleep; or so he wished.

"Where were you?" The voice of his wife froze his steps and made him turn around. She was sitting on a sofa chair, her legs and arms crossed with the lamp as her only her light. By the look on her face, it was obvious that she was beyond furious.

"To Ruka's" was Natsume's ingenious reply.

"And what were you doing there?" Mikan asked as she raised her brow.

Natsume closed his eyes and pinched the bridged of his nose, trying to control his anger but failed.

"If you had listened to me a while ago, you would have known that we just had our Boy's night out, like we usually do every freaking month! But No! You had to open that fucking mouth of yours and accused me of nonsense! " Natsume's sudden outburst made Mikan flinch. This was not the Natsume she knew, even if he was pissed off, he would never act like this. So she had figured out that he was either crazy or drunk.

"W-what?" Mikan stammered, looking for her voice. She was still recovering from Natsume's earlier outbreak.

"What's the problem with all you pregnant women? You order as if you're a queen, you judge as if you're the jury, you yell as if we're deaf! Haven't you had enough? Your mood changes faster than you change your underwear! You've been tying me down always nowadays! Can I have my own life for once?" Natsume bellowed.

Mikan was unable to reply. She just stood there, shocked. When Natsume was aware that she was not going to reply, he talked again but in a calmer and kinder way as some of his anger has now subsided.

"Mikan, I know that you're pregnant but I'm also human. I just need space for a while. You understand, don't you?"

Mikan was silent for a minute then her lips curved into a cheery smile. Which would have been beautiful, unfortunately, it scared the shit out of Natsume. He had thought Mikan was going to cry and he was ready to comfort her but this is a weird turn of events.

"Yes, I understand." was Mikan's reply, her face still held that somewhat creepy smile.

"Thank... you." Natsume muttered under his breath when suddenly a strong impact on his chest flew him out of the door and the next thing he knew, he was outside the house and Mikan just slammed the door right at his face.

"MIKAN HYUUGA! OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR RIGHT NOW!"

_**My husband said he needed more space. So I locked him outside.**_


	2. Round 2

Two young ladies were currently sitting at a table at the farthest corner inside a Café shop. One of them was looking absentmindedly outside the glass frame while the other one was currently sitting unabashed, her eyes on her Mac , typing vigorously, trying to take no heed at the girl in front of her but to do her work only.

The waiter came to them and asked for their orders hesitantly, eyeing each of the two girls, wondering if they heard what he said. The brunette had been snapped out from her daydreaming as she heard the forced cough from the waiter, signaling their attention. She blinked a few times and turned to the waiter with a smile ordering a slice of strawberry short cake and a cappuccino, while the raven haired girl ordered a chocolate mint cake and coffee without even sparing the poor waiter a single glance. After receiving their orders, the waiter hurriedly left their table.

The brunette sighed heavily while trailing her fingers at the rim of the glass of water in front of her.

"I miss him Hotaru."

The raven haired girl suddenly stopped what she was doing to lift her face up and glare at the brunette.

"Mikan, just how many times should we open this topic in order for you to be satisfied?"

"It's Natsume's fault!" Mikan retorted, ignoring what Hotaru had just said.

Hotaru rolled her eyes, her face full of annoyance. This girl wasn't obviously going to listen to her so she decided to just listen in order for this topic to be closed faster.

"Then do tell me on how is it his fault?"

"He said he has allergies from cats. Well, he made me choose, whether it's the cat or him." Mikan muttered as she crossed her arms and pouted which others would find as cute but unfortunately Hotaru didn't.

"Either way, it's too late now. Just get another one. "

"But he's special. He doesn't talk much and he's lazy but I still love him." Mikan was now trying to recall their fun times together.

"Whatever"

"A lot of children loved him Hotaru. Even if he's not that playful, whenever we come to the park, the children always go near him. They love playing with him. And when I'm alone in the house watching a movie he always comes to me and sleeps on my lap. I love it when he nuzzles for my hugs, and now? He's gone!" Mikan cried dramatically, furiously burrowing her face in her hands.

The waiter who had left a while ago had returned with their orders and eyed Mikan anxiously before going to the other table to take a customers order.

Hotaru's patience was seriously running out. Any minute now and she could go on a rampage, leaving her idiotic best friend inside the café.

"Stop being over dramatic Mikan. There are tons of them out there, even in the streets you could find one!"

Mikan lifted her face up and tried to think what her best friend just said.

"You're right Hotaru! I shouldn't be down like this! I just remembered I found a cutie at the pet store yesterday." Mikan stated as she hurriedly grabbed her bag and stood up, fixing her coat.

"I'll be going first Hotaru."

"You're leaving already?"

"Yeah, my cat's gonna kill me if I let him starve."

"Okay. Bye idiot"

As Mikan was heading to the door, she turned to Hotaru once again.

"Let's meet at the mall tomorrow okay? We'll look for cute guys" she then went outside chirping happily.

Hotaru remained as she was still drinking her cup of coffee.

"I still can't believe she chose the cat"

_My husband said it was him or the cat... I miss him sometimes_


	3. Round 3

"I can't believe her!"

A certain raven haired man was currently pacing back and forth inside his office.

" Well, maybe you should talk to her..."

"Talk to her?! Ruka are you insane?! She kicked me out of the house!" Natsume growled at his best friend in front of him. The poor blue-eyed blonde boy could only flinch at his tone.

Natsume was not happy.

Angry? No, that's an understatement**.** Furious? Could be, but not quite since what he was feeling right now was incomprehensible beyond words. Any man or woman wouldn't even dare to go near him.

Yet, what was the source of his gnashing emotions? It could have been the traffic earlier that's why he was late from work, or it could even be for his irresponsible secretary that he had to redo all his work papers, or it could also have been the other companies that were threatening to take him down. But no, the source of his problem was even more tiring than the traffic, even more problematic than his secretary and even more challenging than the other companies.

"Natsume nothing will be solved if you'll only keep pacing inside your office the whole day." Ruka muttered as he looked at Natsume trying to make him understand.

"You don't understand Ruka."

"Yes, I do."

"She's so difficult to understand."

"She's a woman."

"She's so problematic.'

"She's human."

"She's so demanding!"

"She's pregnant!"

Natsume sighed. Here comes the 'pregnant-talk' once again, where you are always wrong against pregnant women, that men should be lucky they weren't carrying a baby in their womb for nine months with all the back pains and vomiting. The talk had been repeated to him countless of times and he still couldn't come in terms with it. It was just too unreasonable and unfair.

"Natsume, just please talk to her." Ruka pleaded towards his best friend.

Natsume looked away and heaved a sigh.

"Fine" he muttered silently yet Ruka heard it loud and clear and a small but happy smile was shown in his face.

* * *

><p>*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*<p>

"Mikan we need to t-"

*SLAM*

"Mikan just please understand."

"Understand what?"

"Please understand that we need to talk."

"Talk."

"Please open the door and let us talk properly."

Silence came over and Natsume was starting to wonder if he heard her. "Mikan?"

"Yes?"

"Please open the door."

"Why?"

"So we could talk."

"Who are you again?"

"Mikan."

"Fine."

Mikan opened the door slowly. Natsume would have thought the pout on her face to be adorable if he weren't so pissed off right now. Unfortunately, he was.

He went inside the house quickly, afraid she might close the door once again.

"H-hey! Who told you could enter?!"

Ignoring what she said, Natsume took her by her shoulders, staring at her amber eyes. "We need to talk."

"O-okay."

Natsume let her go but was still looking at her.

"First of all, I want to apologize. I know I was a jerk yesterday. Maybe it was because I had too much to drink. But I truly am sorry for it so please forgive me. Second, let's talk about trust. Mikan you should trust me. I am your husband. I had pledged myself to you. I would never leave you and I'm trying my best not to hurt you but you need to understand me also. We are husband and wife so we need to work together especially now that a new bundle of joy is adding up to our family. So please Mikan, let me stay here once again."

Mikan eyed him carefully. Silence was engulfing between them. Natsume's hand started to sweat hoping for the worst thing not to come. Mikan looked away and sighed.

"Fine."

Natsume's face grew brighter by her reply. He hugged her tightly, missing her scent even just for a day of separation.

"So..?" Natsume asked, finally letting her go and giving her time to say something for herself.

"What? I already forgave you right?"

"Righttt... but aren't you going to apologize?"

"For what?"

"For what you did to me last night."

"What?"

"You kicked me out of the house."

"So?"

Natsume was dumbfounded. This was truly going to be a challenge, a competition of pride. He thought better of it and just gave a tired sigh.

"Fine... I can't believe this."

"Can't believe what?" Mikan was now hugging him, looking at him from under her eye lashes. Natsume's heart skipped a beat at this little action.

"Nothing. Never mind it."

"Oh... Natsume you know why I forgave you so easily?"

"Why?"

"Because I read an article of some magazine while I was cleaning this morning, it said that a good wife should try to understand and forgive her husband."

"Really?"

"Yes... So that is why I forgive you now." Mikan giggled and hugged Natsume tighter.

Natsume sighed once again. What an unbelievable woman. Yet he couldn't help but think what Mikan said was true. Indeed, ' A good wife always forgives her husband when **she's** wrong'.

**Hello guyz! This chapter was not as funny as the rest. Sorry. I'm trying to update as fast as I can but school is just too busy and we just had our Cosplay Event. It was exhausting but fun. I was Kurenai from Naruto hahaha... so please Review this story and give me your comments.**

**Thank You Milton Berle for the quote.**


	4. Round 4

#4

* * *

><p>"What a truly beautiful sight this is!"<p>

"Shut up Koko."

"Come on Sumire. Look at them. Can't you feel that love is back in the air?"

Sumire heaved a sigh and looked away from the spiky blond-haired idiot boyfriend of hers. She stared at the couple who were sitting in the sofa at the center of the room, cuddling each other as if there's no tomorrow.

It was really a good thing that Mikan and Natsume got back together but their friends can't help but still feel a bit doubtful in their present relationship. They tend to go up and down a lot, like a rollercoaster, only ten times scarier when you reach the bottom. The only one who seemed to be comfortable in the peace making of their relationship seems to be Koko.

"I can't believe you guys are lovey-dovey again!" Koko teased as he went near the couple.

"Shut up and put a sock in your mouth Koko or I'll put it in for you." Hotaru glared as she sat at one of the single sofa at the Mikan's side.

"Ok. This is not a time to fight but to celebrate." Ruka muttered as he stood at Hotaru's side. He was hoping to lighten the mood between his girlfriend and one of his best bud, who was thankfully sitting at the other side of the coffee table between them.

It wasn't like Koko did anything wrong, it's just he wasn't there with all the Mikan and Natsume drama going on and well Hotaru was still feeling a bit sick because of the chicken salad Mikan forced her to try yesterday. She wasn't so sure how Mikan made it look so good yet taste so bad. Even Natsume was sick but he had a higher tolerance to Mikan's weird eating habits.

"So how many more months till you pop your baby out Mikan?" Sumire asked as she placed a bowl filled with a variety of sweets and chocolates at the coffee table.

"Just two months more and this baby will be in my arms." Mikan answered as she took a chocolate bar from the bowl.

While Sumire and Mikan were talking all about baby stuff, Koko's eyes were staring at a certain raven haired girl who sat at the other side looking sick and pale.

"Hey Hotaru."

...

"Hey."

...

"Hey."

...

"Heeeeeeeey."

'_Ignore the pesky bug. It will find another host if you ignore it. Ignore it.' _Hotaru thought as she squeezed her eyes shut in order for her to avoid the man in front of her and to avoid throwing the vase at the table towards the man.

Oh wait, why was she avoiding that?

*SMASH*

"What the hell! Why did you throw that at me?" Koko exclaimed as he almost got hit by the vase.

"Then why do you keep annoying me?" Hotaru wasn't that bad to hit it in his face.

All eyes were staring at the two. "Well, it's not my fault that you look you were going to puke." Koko answered smugly as he crossed his arms.

"He's right Hotaru. You look a bit sick. Are you okay?" Mikan asked as she looked concerned towards her best friend.

"No. It's okay. I'm just a bit sick because I ate your cooking yesterday."

"Oh I see... Wait, What? What's wrong with the food I made yesterday?" Mikan cried.

"Oooh... The ice queen is sick." Koko muttered with a grin on his face. Hotaru glared at him once again.

"Shut up Koko."

"Maybe you're dying."

"Go kill yourself."

"Maybe you're pregnant."

"No. Never mind. I'll kill you myself."

"Someone's being a bitch today" Natsume whistled.

"And since when were you a part of this conversation Hyuuga?"

Koko gasped loudly and all heads turned to him. "Natsume! Don't speak bad words in front of Mikan and Hotaru's baby!"

"Fuck you! Come here! I'll kill you!" Hotaru fumed as she hurriedly went to Koko her hands looking for any more nearby objects to throw at him.

Then Koko's grin grew wider. "Oh never mind! It's okay if we say the word 'bitch' in front of Hotaru's baby. The baby will only think that we're calling his mother a female dog. Good thing the baby's father is a vet, right Ruka?"

Ruka could only blush at what Koko had just said. He and Hotaru weren't even thinking of getting married yet, let alone having a baby.

Sumire was at Koko's side at instant and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Whoa! You knew the true definition of bitch? Maybe you were really learning in school after all! But sucks for you that could all go to waste. You were a great boyfriend. It was great while it lasted. Oh well, just text me what heaven looks like. Oh wait, I think your soul can't enter there. Don't worry, I'll pray for you."

Koko stared weirdly at Sumire. Why the hell was she saying that? Is this her weird, supposedly non-hurtful way of breaking up? He looked around the room and saw Natsume. His friend gestured to look at the other side of the room. He followed Natsume's gaze and their sitting, no, used to be sitting but now standing was Hotaru.

She was angry.

Oh no. She was furious.

Realization dawned on him as he remembered what he had just said and all Koko could think in his crappy little head right now was his damn stupid mouth.

He was hyperventilating and then he inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.

"Oh shit."

* * *

><p>"So, what time do you think they'll come back?" Sumire asked as she now sat where Koko sat a few hours ago.<p>

Ruka shrugged and was also sitting at Hotaru's seat. Koko ran out of the door as soon as Hotaru came for him and Hotaru will stop at nothing to capture Koko.

"Wanna bet that your girlfriends gonna kill my boyfriend?" Sumire grinned as she peered over Ruka.

"Aren't you worried of your boyfriend?"

"Na. I already prayed for him."

Sumire then glanced at the used to be filled bowl in front of her.

"Who ate all the sweets and chocolates?" her gaze turned to the pregnant brunette who was munching at the last chocolate bar.

Natsume stared incredulously at his wife. "Babe, aren't you eating a bit too much?"

Mikan stared back at him with her big brown eyes. "Hmmm... Am I?"

"Yeah, if you keep that up, you're stomach's going to get bigge-oh wait. Nevermind."

Mikan's eyes grew into slits as she heard what her husband had just said.

"Are you freaking call me fat Natsume?! Do you think I'm fat?!"

"What the hell babe! Of course not! Well, you're not exactly thin now but-"

"You're unbelievable! How could you call me fat! You try carrying a baby in your womb for crying out loud and then we'll see if you'll still have that abs of yours!"

"Mikan you're not making sense here!"

"Oh! I'm not making sense? You're the one who's not making sense! You guys are so selfish! You get your pleasure and then we get the end of the bargain! We get to look like freaking f*cking whales and you get to look like freaking bench models! OH! How I wished you guys could get pregnant and the baby could go out in your ass! That way, it would hurt twice as much!"

"That's disgusting!"

"You're disgusting!"

Ruka drowned out the voices of his bickering friends. Here they go again. He knew this would happen again. He turned to Sumire who he hadn't notice just went back to the kitchen a while ago but came back again now holding two glass of wine.

She gave him the other glass.

"Cheers to a wonderful love life and friends."

Ruka heaved a tired sigh and looked up at Sumire. Raising up his glass towards hers.

"Cheers."

* * *

><p>"<strong>A happy marriage has in it all the pleasures of friendships, all the enjoyment of sense and reason – and indeed all the sweets of life." ~ Joseph Addison<strong>

* * *

><p><strong><strong>I'm sorry it's been so long since I last updated .. _


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